Pat Caputo - Desperation only will be on the side of Michigan at MSU

Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio congratulates his team while playing Purdue during the first half of an NCAA college football game in West Lafayette, Ind., Saturday, Oct. 11, 2014. (AP Photo/AJ Mast)

The Spartans have won five of the last six meetings in the rivalry. Michigan State is the defending Big Ten and Rose Bowl champions, and has played in two of first three Big Ten title games.

There are some Las Vegas oddsmakers suggesting the Spartans are the favorites to emerge from the first College Football Playoff as national champions.

The longstanding claim about how the Wolverines have dominated the series overall rings hallow, especially now that not only Michigan’s football program, but its athletic administration, has presented a disturbingly chaotic front.

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The scenario has changed the dynamic surrounding the Michigan-MSU game this coming Saturday in East Lansing. It is now essentially a one-game season for the Wolverines. You know, like it used to be for the Spartans.

If the Wolverines were to win, it would change the course of Michigan’s football program and athletic department. It would bring back much of the respect that has been lost.

It would help save the jobs of Michigan coach Brady Hoke and athletic director David Brandon. It is very much one last shot at redemption for the current Wolverines’ regime.

Ah, there will be the usual rambling from Michigan fans about how the Spartans aren’t really the Wolverines’ main rivals - that it’s Ohio State.

But in truth, the Ohio State game would be too little, too late.

The Titanic will have sunk by then.

Michigan has had an extra week to prepare for this game because of a perfectly-timed bye. Just losing to MSU so consistently, and watching the Spartans go onto much greater glory, has been painful enough for the Wolverines. Yet, it has been compounded by the way this in-state rivalry game has been decided.

It’s way more insulting to suggest a football team is not tough enough than merely not good enough.

The Spartans have not only defeated the Wolverines, but have beaten them up physically. After last year’s 29-6 victory in East Lansing, MSU defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi used the word “bully” to describe what the Spartans did to the Wolverines.

Spartans’ head coach Mark Dantonio famously talked about “pride before the fall” regarding Michigan early in his stint, and has successfully backed up his bravado in a manner that could not have remotely been imagined by even the most hopeful among the MSU fan base.

Recall just a decade ago. The Bobby Williams-John L. Smith eras? The concept of the “Walmart Wolverines” belittling MSU alums unrelentingly at the water cooler in work places across the state?

A lot of pie holes have been shut, and much humble pie eaten in the ensuing years, by the Michigan faithful.

The Spartans have been driven by vindictiveness toward Michigan, as much as anything else.

But is the anger waning? The masses will be at Spartan Stadium this coming Saturday anticipating an absolute slaughter, like 2013 and 2011, the most recent visits by Michigan in which the Spartans outscored the Wolverines by a combined score of 57-20.

Michigan did play better defensively while beating Penn State in its most recent game. The invincible Spartans’ defense looked uncharacteristically vulnerable during victories over Nebraska, Purdue and Indiana.

Might the Michigan-MSU game be closer than initially expected? Do the Wolverines actually have a chance?

Doesn’t seem likely, but the ultimate motivator - desperation - will be on the Wolverines’ side.

About the Author

Pat Caputo has written as a beat writer and sports columnist for The Oakland Press since 1984 and blogs at http://patcaputo.blogspot.com/. Reach the author at pat.caputo@oakpress.com
or follow Pat on Twitter: @PatCaputo98.